Medicare actuary's data shows spending for nursing homes will decline

The chief Medicare actuary released ominous data to Congress while alleging he had been pressured to keep it under wraps. Richard Foster estimates that enrollment in the traditional Medicare program will decline from 2006 to 2009, as will payments to healthcare providers, the New York Times reports.

More specifically, spending for skilled nursing facilities will decline in 2006 and 2007, the documents showed.

The documents also show that payments to physicians under Medicare's fee schedule will decline each year from 2006 to 2012, according to the Times.

About 60,000 elderly or disabled Medicaid recipients in Louisiana are being told they should expect to lose their benefits in July, and advocates say more than a quarter of them could be forced out of the long-term care facilities they call home.